Gamification in language learning

Gamification, as I see it, is using games to let users get involved and make progress when they focus on the activities. There are several features of game that can be used for other fields according to Tom Chatfield, such as measuring progress, rewards for effort, clear feedback, etc. Some elements were also mentioned in A Comparison of Computer Game and Language-Learning Task Design Using Flow Theory. The author believes the key points for a sucessful game/task should be (1)goals, (2) feedback, and (3) a skill/difficulty balance. Educators can use such features to motivate students to overcome challenges.

Gamification seems dominant in early childhood education. For the young kids, they cannot focus on the study for a long time. Therefore, playing games is the best way to teach kids. One common way to review words is to ramdomly point the word and the students say it out loud. I think one of the game's feature, the element of uncertainty, is the factor that interest the kids. In addition, many teachers love to sent out stickers to praise the kids. In the end of the semester, they children will get little presents according to the number of the stickers. It is the "reward" and "feedback" in the gamification. So I think gamification is not just playing games, but use the game's feature to teach.

Some think that playing commercial games is wasting time. However, Julie M. Syke argues that both educational and commercial games as potentially useful for language teaching and learning. Only, teachers need to aware that if the game can corresponde to the desired learning outcome. The games in the classroom should not be designed for purely entertainment purpose. In the article 7 Things You Should Know About Games and Learning, it says that nowadays games and game mechanics are increasingly being employed at colleges and universities. Teachers need to learn gamification and apply it in the classroom.